


here is my home

by instillared



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Idol Kim Mingyu, M/M, Minor Jeon Wonwoo/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Secret Relationship, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 12:13:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15485508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/instillared/pseuds/instillared
Summary: There’s a half filled glass of champagne on the coffee table in between the couches, the empty bottle he finds on the bar countertop. The television is on, muted, and from the looks of it stuck on MTV. Which means Joshua was definitely watching his performance.And his first win.





	here is my home

Wonwoo calls him early, early enough it’s still semi-dark outside even with the blinds rolled shut and curtains drawn. Mingyu answers the phone with a muffled sound, a grunt of approval, and then a swift hang up. The screen is bright and hurts his eyes but he somehow powers through it to scroll through any notifications he might need. The usual: instagram comments, tweets from other verified accounts asking him stupid questions, a text or two from his mom. Fifteen minutes later is when he decides the strain is too much and he sets the phone back on the night stand. The clock, red letters dimmed just enough, reads it’s just gone 5 in the morning. That gives him an hour total to get showered and in somewhat suitable clothing for the salon.

It’s only his second comeback for a mini album and he still isn’t quite used to the insane schedule of a Sunday morning music show.

The other days aren’t terrible. He doesn’t have to be there until later in the afternoon for recording since it’s just him. But Sundays…Sundays are the devil.

Mingyu sits up in the oversized hotel bed and stares straight at the muted wallpaper tone for what feels like a solid five minutes before there’s movement beside him. He smiles, cocks his head to the side to look at the sleeping figure in the spot next to his.

Joshua Hong. Twenty-seven years old. English instructor at a nearby middle school, has been since he arrived in Korea almost a decade ago. Mingyu met him halfway through his training period as his own personal tutor since, and this is according to Wonwoo, Mingyu’s mental age was close to that of a teenager’s. Manager knows best, he supposes.

Thank whatever deity for small miracles like Jeon Wonwoo.

After finally debuting and deciding he no longer needed a tutor for his English, Mingyu pursued a different relationship with the teacher. Secret, so to speak. Not even Wonwoo knew (though Mingyu suspects he had a clue from the get go even before the two began really seeing each other).

He’s not public with Joshua, not even labeled as anything. Can’t risk it, not as a rookie or from a small independent company, or as an idol who aspires to do it all. Joshua understands.

Thank whatever deity for small miracles like Joshua Hong, too.

This is the third morning they’ve woken up together in the luxe hotel suite. Mingyu is doing comeback shows this week and opted for the barricaded room in a five-star hotel to have Joshua all to himself with zero interruptions. He wakes up each morning and showers, meets Wonwoo in the lobby and heads to recordings and live shows, and then comes back in the late afternoon to blow off steam from a close second place. Joshua takes the disappointment in stride, offers to ride him halfway to hell when it’s a particularly rough point difference. He’s doing fine in sales and Youtube views but it’s the SNS voting that kills him.

Mingyu knows it’s not everything to win a music show but he’s finding it hard to care about anything else when it continues to get snatched away under his nose by whatever group is ‘in’ at the moment. He’s been working hard, too. He sees the tweets.

Today will be no different, he sighs. Joshua sits up with shoulders bared, blankets pooling around his waist. He leans in to kiss Mingyu’s shoulder and rubs the other with as much energy as he can muster at five in the morning. “‘m sore,” he complains with no bite. “Shower?” When Mingyu nods silently, Joshua pulls away to stretch. “Go start the hot water and I’ll join you.” Mingyu nods again before rolling off the bed. He’s stark naked, can feel Joshua’s eyes on him as he sways to the large bathroom. It’s a feeling Mingyu loves, being watched. Or maybe it’s just because it’s Joshua.

Around forty-five minutes (and one very relaxing shower) later he’s dressed in semi-casual wear and facing Joshua at the door to the suite. “I’ll be back around five or six. If you want anything to eat, just order it. Or go shopping, I can leave my card-“

“You make it seem like I’m some sort of sugar baby, Christ,” Joshua laughs as he straightens out Mingyu’s collar. “I’m just going to stay here all day. Might go swimming.” He pauses when Mingyu pouts, lips worried under his pearly white canines. “Don’t be nervous. You’re going to do great. Now go before Wonwoo comes up here to get you.”

Before Mingyu can whisk himself away he leans in and kisses Joshua, short and sweet. “I’ll call you before the live stage.”

“Go get ‘em, tiger.”

 

When Mingyu steps into the hotel room later in the afternoon there’s a certain silence in the air. He drops his coat on the foyer table and walks through to the living room. The only source of light in the suite comes from the ceiling to wall windows lining the wall. It’s still early enough, the sun fighting it’s way down the horizon. There’s a half filled glass of champagne on the coffee table in between the couches, the empty bottle he finds on the bar countertop. The television is on, muted, and from the looks of it stuck on MTV. Which means Joshua was definitely watching his performance.

And his first win.

Mingyu cleans up quickly, sets the champagne glass in the wet bar sink and gently places the champagne bottle outside the room. There are a few candy wrappers lying around and Mingyu tosses those in the trash whenever one crinkles under his feet. When he’s exhausted as much energy as he can on cleaning, Mingyu takes a step back into the living area. The bedroom sliding door is closed, has been closed this entire time. He begins to wonder if, after drinking an entire bottle of champagne by himself, Joshua simply left or if he fell asleep. When he slides the doors open a crack, he has his answer.

The blinds are rolled down, only a sliver of sunlight between the window and the door allowing Mingyu’s eyes to adjust to the otherwise dark bedroom. A shirt he immediately recognizes as his own lays on the floor near the television set. A towel is strewn across the floor near the bathroom. The hotel bathrobe rests gently across the desk chair. And in the king sized bed set up in the middle of the bedroom, absolutely cocooned in down comforter and pillows, is Joshua.

He’s snoring, though in Joshua’s case his snores are more like light sniffles as he attempts to catch his breath through an allergy stuffed nose. He’s laying on his side, mop of dark hair shadowing his face from Mingyu’s view. As quiet as he can, Mingyu steps over to his own side of the bed and fights nearly every urge to snap a quick photo for Instagram. In a perfect world, maybe.

When it becomes apparent Joshua isn’t going to weirdly sense Mingyu standing over him and wake up, Mingyu leans onto the bed and dips the mattress. He uses his other hand to reach over, cupping his cheek and pulling Joshua’s face towards his own.

Joshua’s eyes flutter open, lips parted and pink. “Wha-” Mingyu doesn’t give him a chance to finish, presses his own mouth against Joshua’s.

He kisses him deep, immediately licks across the seam of Joshua’s mouth and works their tongues together. He doesn’t mean for it to be as heated as it is, but Mingyu finds himself suddenly worked up over everything. The image of Joshua watching a music program at noon on a Sunday, popping open one of the more expensive bottles of champagne from the minibar and drinking it in near entirety out of celebration. He was definitely wearing Mingyu’s shirt to bed last night, remembers Joshua tucking himself into Mingyu’s side of the bed when he got up early to go for hair and makeup this morning. And then the view of Joshua asleep, soft and golden skin even more radiant against the white sheets of the hotel bed. It becomes too much, too much for Mingyu.

When Joshua moans into his mouth, he doesn’t expect to be pushed off. Mingyu pulls away, a string of spit connecting them. He looks down at Joshua’s face, sleep ridden and still puffy like he’d been in bed for hours. “Wha’s gotten int’ you?” Joshua mumbles in a way Mingyu thinks he’s still half-asleep, yet it’s obvious he’s poorly fighting back a smile. “Oh. Firs’ win, babe.”

Joshua licks his lips, eyes focused on Mingyu’s. Mingyu leans in once more and meets Joshua halfway for another kiss. This one is calmer, softer, nothing heated or super passionate behind it. “I’m in love with you,” he says so matter-of-factly. “I really, really love you.”

In his eyes there’s a beat of insecurity, of confusion, of fear all in the five seconds before Joshua says anything even remotely coherent. “Oh,” is what comes out. “Fuck.” If Joshua was just barely asleep before, he’s most certainly wide awake now. Adrenaline rushes through Mingyu’s veins as he begins to gauge the reaction he wasn’t sure he expected.

“I know, it’s- it’s a lot. I just.” Mingyu takes a deep breath, grabs Joshua’s wrists in a soft hold. He’s only two years younger than his companion but he’s never felt so childlike until this moment. “I’m going to bare my heart out here, you know? So, just, hang on. I love you, so much. Love coming back to you every time. Seeing you in my bed, in my clothes. Knowing I get to take care of you like this. I’m only a vacation right now, Joshua Hong, but I kind of want to be your permanent destination. Kind of want everyone to know where my new home is.”

The sheets rustle beneath Joshua as he shifts, uncomfortably or not Mingyu finds it’s hard to tell. “Wait. Like. What about....what about everything? You want to come out? You can’t just come out and say you have a boyfriend all in one go. You can’t do that.”

There’s an underlying tone to Joshua’s argument. Mingyu thinks he’s allowed to be selfish, wants to claim Joshua for his own no matter what the world thinks. But then Joshua is allowed to be selfish, too. He didn’t think this far ahead.

“Maybe not, but if I only come out it’ll be harder for us to meet in secret. I’ll have eyes on me from all angles. If I-“ he pauses, “if I say I have a steady partner or something maybe they’ll understand better.” Mingyu of course does not mention the necessity to discuss all of this with Wonwoo and the company first. He can’t do anything without their approval and even then, there’s a fear he’ll be cut loose almost immediately. He knows Wonwoo gets shit every now and then when his boyfriend shows up to dance practice unannounced, but Mingyu won’t ever complain when the dancer helps him loosen an ankle or swivel his hips in a more effective manner for stage presence.

Joshua frowns. “I just think you need to be smart. About all of it. I don’t want you to give up anything important for me.” He almost sounds defeated and it nearly breaks Mingyu’s heart.

He cups Joshua’s face with his hands, rubs their noses together in a sweet nuzzle. “I’d give up the world for you, you know that.” The cheesy line is almost worth it for the pink tinge on Joshua’s cheeks and the way his catlike eyes tear up a little. “I’ll talk to Wonwoo and see where to go from here. He’s not going to be happy I kept a secret from him for so long. Or he might be amazed, who knows. I’m kind of shit at secrets.”

Joshua smiles again, and for once Mingyu can’t tell entirely what he’s thinking. “I love you, Kim Mingyu.” Mingyu scoffs, Joshua hitting him lightly on the shoulder. “I mean it. You’re like a prince. I thought you were just some stuck-up idol when they first brought me in but you’re a lot more than that. You’re,” he pauses to think. “I don’t know. You’re perfect.”

“So I’m like Prince Charming?”

“Sure. We’ll go with that.”

They continue to talk, conversation dwindling down to the topic of _what now?_. Mingyu doesn’t exactly know. He needs to call Wonwoo, for starters. He needs to call Wonwoo and tell him everything over a burner phone and then maybe fuck off to another country with whatever he has in his pocket because Wonwoo is certainly going to murder him. And then he needs to call his mother.

After throwing on an unquestionable disguise, Mingyu makes his way to a takeaway diner about a block out. He decides the walk between the hotel and the restaurant will provide an ample enough time to not get murdered by his manager, maybe.

“ _Everything okay?_ ” when Wonwoo picks up on the first ring, except it isn’t Wonwoo who answers the phone. “ _Sorry, he’s taking a shower and I saw you come up on the screen and I kind of figured something was wrong because you literally never call Wonwoo, ever._ ”

Mingyu smiles when he hears Soonyoung’s voice, soft and careful and overly friendly. “I, uh. Yeah. I kind of needed his advice, I guess? Or permission. Or both.”

“ _Uh oh. Permission for what? Are you getting another tattoo?_ ”

“No, God, nothing like that. It’s, uh, a little bit bigger than that.”

“ _Are you thinking about quitting immediately after getting your first win?!_ ”

“Bigger than that.”

There’s some static noise, the opening of the door and the distinguishable sound of a shower curtain being pulled back, Wonwoo shouting “ _what the fuck?!”_ and Soonyoung responding with “ _Mingyu, big thing_ ” before he hears the shower turn off. “ _Go ahead,Gyu. Hope you don’t mind being on speaker._ ”

Mingyu, hiding in the alleyway behind the restaurant, takes a deep breath. “So, like, there’s a someone-” he hears Soonyoung gasp immediately followed by Wonwoo hitting him in the shoulder based on the cry, “and I want to, uh, introduce this someone as _my_ someone? To you guys. To my fans. To everyone, I guess.”

“ _Mingyu,_ ” Wonwoo says into the mic. He thinks he’s been taking off speakerphone. “ _Is this someone a female?_ ”

He feels a lump in his throat, clears it as best as he can. He’s shaking his head before he realizes Wonwoo can’t see him. “No _.”_

“ _Is it Joshua?_ ”

“Fuck. Yeah- yes, it is.”

“ _I see._ ”

There’s more silence, Mingyu panicking only a little as he stares down at the phone screen and watches the seconds tick by. He knows Wonwoo is thinking of a plan, but it doesn’t make the waiting any less difficult.

Finally, Wonwoo exhales. “ _Do you want my honest opinion?_ ” and Mingyu hopes his silence is enough of an answer. “ _I think you’re an idiot, first. I think you’re doing something really stupid and jeopardizing to your career. And I’m not saying that as your manager because my livelihood depends on your success. I’m saying this as a very close friend._ ”

It’s harsh, but not entirely untrue.

“ _But you’re one of the smartest people I know. And you wouldn’t go into anything like this half-assed if you didn’t give a shit about the outcome. So here is what I suggest you do. Listen very carefully. We’ll have a press conference. Talk about your successful promotion, bullet point through all the tour details. At the very end open it up to questions. I’ll plant someone to ask you about your personal life, that good bullshit we know AKP eats up. Answer the question. End of conference. You will be barred from social media so I can gauge the public reaction. And then, I guess we’ll go from there._ ”

It’s a lot more than Mingyu is expecting given the current situation.

“ _You don’t have to, like, make a decision right at this moment. But you called and you asked and I’m telling you what I think._ ”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll think it over.”

“ _Oh, and Mingyu?_ ”

“Yeah?”

“ _Next time you try and hide something from me make sure it isn’t staying late after lessons and ordering two hundred thousand won champagne to your hotel room, maybe. Have a good evening._ ”

The phone clicks off abruptly and Mingyu finds himself turning a bit pink at the implications. So Wonwoo definitely knew, which is fine. Everything is fine. It doesn’t stop him from sending the flying stack of dollar bills emoji to Wonwoo followed by the prayer hands. He knows it’s a high-five but at this point it doesn’t really matter.

After schooling his own expression, Mingyu heads into the restaurant to pick up food. He’s not sure if his disguise really is unrecognizable or if people are being discreet, but he’s able to get in and out without a problem. The walk back to the hotel is just as uneventful and he manages to make it up to the suite unscathed. Wonwoo has since left him on read in favor of his own relationship so Mingyu has kept his mind racing for the most part.

Joshua, fully clothed, is sitting at the kitchenette table when Mingyu finally walks through the door. He’s got a cup of what Mingyu assumes to be tea judging by the mug and the steam and he’s idly scrolling through his phone.

“So, Wonwoo knows. Knew. But also properly knows,” is all Mingyu can stammer out as he sets the bag of food on the counter. Joshua puts his phone down right after and smiles up at him. “And he gave us his blessing, blah blah blah. He, um. Wants me to have a press conference. We’ll hold it for end of promotions and then I guess he’ll use his Wonwoo magic to get me to spill the beans. And then I’m not allowed to have a phone for who knows how long.”

Joshua hums before locking his phone and placing it face down on the table. “What do I need to do?”

“Absolutely nothing. Continue being you. You’ll be my source of entertainment for a few weeks, think you’re up for the challenge?”

He sees Joshua’s small smile turn into a catlike grin and knows the man is only up to no good in his thoughts. Mingyu circles the table to wrap himself around Joshua’s shoulders and kisses at his neck.

“Are you ready to do this? To go public—about me? About all of this?” Joshua’s voice is unwavering and unphased, unafraid. Mingyu wishes he had his courage.

The thing is—he’s not ready, but if he doesn’t do it now when his adrenaline is most pumped up, when he has nearly everyone he cares about on his side, well. He probably would never do it. “I’ve never been sure about anything in my life, but I really want to do this. I want to go out and hold hands with my stupid boyfriend in public and take you on dates without worrying about getting caught. Sure, there’s going to be more things to worry about after but…I know it’ll be worth it.”

It seems to please Joshua and he leans in to Mingyu’s back, kisses under his chin. “I’ll be here, every step of the way.”

And Mingyu knows, above album sales, above music award trophies, above fans, this is really all that matters to him.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long. I rewrote it several times and never felt truly right about it. I'm not good with longer pieces (especially ending them) so hopefully, nothing seems too "off"! I hope you enjoyed :')
> 
> [You can find me on twitter if you'd like~](https://twitter.com/instillared)


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